What is owed on my house

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England This advice applies to England: England home Advice can vary depending on where you live. Selling your property to clear mortgage debts This advice applies to England Print. Table of contents Don't just hand back the keys to your mortgage lender or wait to get evicted Things to think about You don't get enough from the sale to cover what you owe Finding somewhere else to live Don't just hand back the keys to your mortgage lender or wait to get evicted If you can't pay your mortgage, you may be tempted to: just leave the property and hand back the keys to your mortgage lender, or do nothing about your mortgage debts and wait for your mortgage lender to go through the courts and get you evicted from your property.

These include: finding somewhere else to live getting a valuation to see whether the selling price will cover the mortgage and any repayment debts. If it doesn't, you will need to get permission from your lender to sell the property thinking about whether the money from selling the property will be enough to re-pay what you owe on the mortgage.

If it isn't, you'll have to make up the difference thinking about how long it would take to sell the property and the costs involved, for example, estate agent's and legal fees.

You don't get enough from the sale to cover what you owe If the money from the sale of the property is not enough to repay what you owe, you will have to pay the difference.

Finding somewhere else to live If you're selling your property to clear your mortgage debts, you will need to think about where you are going to live.

Did this advice help? Yes No. Why wasn't this advice helpful? It isn't relevant to my situation. It doesn't have enough detail. I can't work out what I should do next. Liens placed on homes are automatic and may not have anything to do with your repayment history. A lien indicates that some form of debt remains unpaid, resulting in legal action.

This can lead to a worst-case scenario. One potential outcome is that the property is seized and sold, especially if the cause is unpaid property taxes. Most lienholders refrain from foreclosing in favor of waiting for the homeowner to settle the debt or sell the property.

On the other hand, a lien is beneficial for creditors or workers such as contractors. This is because liens protect their rights, ensuring they receive due compensation for work performed for a homeowner. There may be some confusion about how liens affect your credit score and which ones actually show up on your record.

To report them, the creditor must have a minimum amount of identifying information from a debtor, including their date of birth or Social Security number SSN. However, not all liens put a dent in your credit score. The same applies to tax liens.

The three major credit reporting agencies —Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion—removed tax liens from their credit reports as of April The agencies stopped reporting them because of the number of errors, inconsistencies, and disputes they received. The Fair Credit Reporting Act requires each of these credit reporting companies to provide you with a free copy of your credit report, at your request, once every 12 months. A lien is intended to protect a creditor and ensure that the debtor settles their financial obligations.

If reasonable steps are taken to fulfill the obligation, or if an alternative payment plan is arranged and followed, then the debtor should not be constrained by a lien on the property. A creditor may decide to place a lien on the property after all attempts to settle a debt are exhausted. When landowners or homeowners fail to pay their property taxes , the municipal government has the right to place a lien on the property.

The government issues a tax lien certificate when the lien is placed on the property. Municipal governments can sell these certificates at an auction to investors who pay an additional premium plus the outstanding amount. This allows the government to recoup the money. If the property owner chooses to settle the debt and wants to remove the lien, then they must pay the investor the outstanding debt, plus any additional interest and premiums that the investor paid. Once the debt is paid, the lien is removed.

There are multiple ways to remove a lien from a home. The first is to settle the matter with the lienholder. The settlement process depends on the type of lien, the relationship between the debtor and the lienholder, and the value of the lien. In some cases, a lienholder may agree to remove the lien if both parties can agree to a payment plan. Keep in mind that a lien is tied to the property, not to the property owner. For this reason, a property holder can be free of a property lien when they sell the asset to which the lien is tied.

There are downsides to this course of action. Although the homeowner receives proceeds from the sale, they are expected to first pay off what is owed to the lienholder. And a homeowner may find it difficult to sell any property that has a lien against it.

Prospective buyers may avoid a property to which someone else has a claim. The most straightforward way to remove a lien from your property is to satisfy the debt.

Once you have paid it off, you can file a Release of Lien form, which acts as evidence that the debt has been satisfied. The easiest way to remove a lien is to pay the outstanding debt, either in full or by agreeing to a payment plan.

Liens are filed with the county office and sent to the property owner advising them of repossession of the asset s. Liens can be general or specific, and voluntary or involuntary.

Not usually. Before you close on a home, your attorney or title company should perform a title search to make sure the title is free of liens, back taxes, and other claims. Liens are a matter of public record. All homeowners have liens on their homes until they pay off their mortgages. Internal Revenue Service.

Federal Trade Commission. Accessed Sept. Debt Management. Loan Basics. This notice might be published in a local newspaper and could also be posted on your property. The lender will then prepare to put the home up for auction, which includes setting a date and time for the sale.

Leave residence. Generally, you do not have to move out until the foreclosure process is complete, which can take a few months or up to a year or longer. However, once your house is sold, you have to leave the property. You might have some time after the sale date to live in the home, but that timeframe varies by state. It could be a few days or a few weeks. If you remain on the premises beyond your legal rights, the homeowner or lender will start a formal eviction process.

If the sale of the home yields profits, the lender is not entitled to excess proceeds over the loan balance plus any fees owed for the foreclosure process. In short, any money earned above the balance and foreclosure costs goes to the borrower. In the event that your home sells for less than the balance owed, the lender can file something called a deficiency judgment.

This is a lawsuit that requests the lender pay the remainder of the loan amount. A lender might try to collect the outstanding balance. Some states, however, have anti-deficiency laws or restrict deficiency judgments after foreclosure.

Sometimes, the lender pays the taxes in order to sell the home. Taxes are attached to homes—not people—so once the property is sold the taxes are the responsibility of the new owner. Some states do not allow collections on payments made by lenders after a foreclosure. Up until the time your house is scheduled for auction, there might still be a chance to halt the foreclosure process. The key is communicating with your lender. The sooner you talk to your lender, the better.

Many people feel intimidated by calling their lender and would rather avoid this uncomfortable situation by putting it off, but that can only hurt you in the long run. They might ask you to provide proof of hardship or other financial information to help you work out a plan. There are also government agencies that offer counseling and other assistance; one such organization is Making Home Affordable.

However, you should watch out for mortgage scammers that prey on desperate homeowners. Make sure anyone you talk to is calling from a number you can verify. To find a legitimate housing counselor, you can visit the U. A foreclosure is a severely negative credit event, knocking off points or more from your credit score, according to FICO. Additionally, it stays on your credit report for seven years.

The missed payments prior to the foreclosure will also have a damaging effect on your credit. Because missed payments top the list of negative events, your credit score will suffer before the foreclosure process even begins. Natalie Campisi is a Los Angeles-based reporter who covers mortgages and housing news for Forbes Advisor. Previously, she was the senior mortgage reporter and analyst for Bankrate. Select Region. United States. United Kingdom.

Natalie Campisi.